Unofficial news and tips about Google

January 20, 2012

New Google Accounts Require Gmail and Google+

If you try to create a Google account from Google's homepage, you'll notice that Google redesigned the page, but that's not all. You'll now have to create a Gmail account, a Google Profile and you'll automatically join Google+.

Until now, creating a Google account was quite simple. You could either use an existing email address or create a Gmail account. The redesigned form includes new fields: name, gender (required for Google+) and mobile phone number (not required).

"Your Google Account is more than just Search. Talk, chat, share, schedule, store, organize, collaborate, discover and create. Use Google products from Gmail to Google+ to YouTube, view your search history, all with one username and password, all backed up all the time and easy to find at (you guessed it) Google.com," informs the page.

New users no longer have to manually create a profile and join Google+, while Google found another way to increase the number of Google+ users (currently at 90 million) and the number of Gmail users (currently at 350 million). I've always wondered why Google never offered the option to create a Gmail account when you sign up for a Google account and now that's the only way to create a Google account.

Update: You can still use the old form if you know the URL or if you click "Sign up for a new Google Account" in Google Calendar, Blogger and probably a few other Google products.

Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Groups use a different page that lets you sign up using a Gmail address or a different email account. Just click "use a different email" and you'll see the old form.

Update 2. A Google spokesperson sent the following statement: "We're working to develop a consistent sign-up flow across our different products as part of our efforts to create an intuitive, beautifully simple, Google-wide user experience. Making it quick and easy to create a Google Account and a Google profile enables new users to take advantage of everything Google can offer."

I think the problem is that if you need to sign up for Google+ when you create a Google account, and Google+ requires you to be 18+...then under-18's can't sign up for a Google account! :o (Wait, let me test that)

Hmm, Google is gradually unveiling its plan of polling all its muscles to outwit the competition. It's clear that G+ has more hidden purpose that we saw when it launched. It's not just a social media site as many thought of it. Be ready for more surprises.

Google is a democrat party political ally and tool. Don't be too naive about it wanting to be the next Facebook. The founders are closely allied with the democrats. Very close. Every Google search you make is money in the pocket of the democrat party. If you're a liberal democrat, that's fine. If not, you should think.

Another way to increase google+ users. This is child SOPA by google. Then they are kicking facebook, twitter from top results in searches and giving more power to their useless google+ service. Removed sharing from google reader and added google+added google+ to blogspotadded google+ to searches as author profile with postsadded google+ to gmailblah blah, so that everyone can force join google+

Please expand on that. How is transitioning to a communication system in which email and social networks are combined, a child of SOPA? Users are naturally using social networks for email like communication; I see this is a reflection of the fact that Google understands the changing norms of digital communication.

What you should question, however, is the real names policy. Technically, I think anonymity is profoundly challenging in the Internet age. Tor and bitcoin do not provide the anonymity that people think they do. But, Google could provide pseudonymity.

(1) A key to developing a social network is people discovery. If the case is that they Google capture individuals's identities then that will enable people discovery even if those users do not use the social network aspect of Google+.

(2) Many GMail accounts are setup for a variety of purposes, but not always for personal communication. By tying the GMail accounts to Google+ they are able to unify the information they have about the holders of that GMail accounts, which improves security in the long run.

(3) Google will be able increase their Google+ numbers in a way that will encourage marketers and other websites to use their social network. Because most users are unverified and their engagement with Google+ unknown, marketers will be uncertain whether or not those numbers are correct but they will have to bet that they are.

This is a bit strange - I mean, it's quite logical to have multiple google accounts. For example, multiple e-mail addresses and separate not-personal google accounts used for running adsense for each website. However, linking them all to a single google+ account is not possible, and having multiple google+ accounts is ridiculous as well..

I agree with you that Facebook's practices are evil. But I would love to understand why tying Google+ to GMail is evil. I do not believe that you are required to have an email address that is your real name and anonymity in at this stage of Internet use is development, tragically, technically difficult.

Stop acting like spoiled brats. Why does eveyone act like Google is some charity that you can pushover? Google is a corporation, for one thing, and the unification of the disorganized various Google products through Google+ is welcoming, for another. Besides, does anyone bitch when one has to signup for an Apple ID to use iDevices? Or that Facebook automatically makes an @facebook.com email address when one signs up?

Rofl, I don't get the big deal here. These are defaults people are crying about! You can still easily remove all social parts of your Google account with like 2 clicks. A Google+ account is not, and likely never will be, a required part of a Google account (simply because of the multiple account issue; most Googlers have at least 2 Google Accounts).

It's also not like Google is misleading people throughout the signup process. It's very clear that you're not just signing up for email or search.

If you don't want to use Google+, don't use it. Making a profile (even if you don't delete it afterwards) doesn't force you to use it.

Spoken just like a computer turd > Not every one has your expertise or skill . When it works there is no need to change ever. Every thing is going along fine and up jumps change . To hell with that ,all I want to do is send and receive my mail all the other stuff is just in the way . All these international symbol crap is just garbage .

I've checked before posting. Step 2 creates a Google profile and adds your account to Google+. After creating the account, go to plus.google.com (or click +YourName at the top of the page) and you'll see a welcome screen that suggests some contacts and celebrities you may want to add to your circles.

Actually, if you take a look at the screenshot for "step 2", there's a section about Google+, who is "more than just a site to visit".

All goes downhill, people get bullied and unrightfuly fired from their Datacenters and other engineering positions cause of failed management, people were year underpaid and needed state welfare, they purposely by accident scanned all wireless data, they put your house in pictures on the internet and want to link it to all other relevant data and now they want to force you to make their service better at your expense.... Google was good when it started. All went to shit just before they went into China.... Support something worse then microsoft (which they call "the beast"), JOIN GOOGLE! Please..... Google...... You are just another corporation driven on modern slavery and propaganda!

This is probably the right time to actually compete with Google Search, a lot of potential there. Search results of the Google Search engine are going downhill for quite some time now. Time to shake up the monopolist.

I think it's very risky is doing what Google search results varying according to the +1 you have a specific page. While this only works if you are logged in with your user of Google, being forced to use your new social network and all that that entails for successful searches in your browser

Google boxes us into a corner in trying to deal with different marketing segments. A marketer needs separate youtube channels... but this requires separate google accounts, which now require g+ accounts... a violation of TOS. I mean simple people like me want to be compliant but there doesn't seem to be a way to do it 100% on the up and up.